The beast takes shape

 

After several hours of assembly, the quilting frame is taking shape in the re-arranged dining room.  Although the frame does come completely apart, it's really meant to be put together once and left together.  So it's a bit of a job to re-assemble it. Luckily all the bolts and nuts were present and correct, and I managed to puzzle out the manual instructions.  Past me had helpfully taken some photos of how the rail supports were adjusted and how the snaking wires on the back of the machine were tamed.  After getting the table together, I sat down with the Pfaff Grand Hobbiquilter and gave it a good clean and oil.  It had been covered up as it sat on the sewing room floor for five years but was still amazingly dirty from dust etc.  With trepidation I plugged it in and started it up - the gorgeous thing sewed perfectly right away. Love it, quality build. So that's installed on the machine carriage now, and it's just the fabric poles to add on to complete the set up.  The roll of wadding has arrived as you can see (tucked under the frame).  The dining room door is now partially obstructed, so I've put a warning notice on it.

I did an audit of my queue of quilt tops, listing them out by size, what type of quilting pattern, what colour thread top and bottom, and what kind of wadding they need.  There are 15 tops waiting but 3 of them I think will need to be custom quilted at the sit down machine as they aren't suitable for an all-over pattern.  I can still baste the sandwich for them on the frame, it's a lot easier to do it on the frame with microtacks than on the dining table.  I also ranked the quilts from easiest to quilt up to most difficult, to give me a game plan.

The audit reveals that I need to order a bunch of quilting thread.  I still have a fair amount of Bottom Line for the bobbin but I will need to order top threads in suitable colours.  The audit also revealed a vintage top that I have no memory whatsoever of purchasing.  I like it but I don't remember ever seeing it before.  I'll have to have a look back in my blog - perhaps I bought it at Carrefour Europeen du Patchwork in Sainte Marie aux Mines.

I'm still plugging away at Month 12 of the Australian BOM and still have more to do.  It's a huge amount of work and I'm conscious the next instalment will arrive soon.  I did make another row for the Tannenbaum quilt.

I also recovered a lightweight washbag I bought on Amazon for travel. It's recommended because of its low weight, but unfortunately the original (right) is hideous to my eyes.  I unpicked the binding and recovered it a flowery bit of old raincoat, then sewed the binding back on with some difficulty - the Singer struggled to get round the tight bend of the bottom pouch.  But apart from the wobbly binding stitching, the exterior is now much less offensive to my eyes (the interior still not great).

I finished the little Bruges lace sample from the Edna Sutton book. It was a good learning piece for the basic ground fill in the centre and the plaited edging and hopefully I'll do better on the next sample.

Our garden is hitting its stride with several roses coming into bloom, along with the irises, foxgloves, the first of the clematis, salvia, delphiniums and many others.  This is our garden's best time of year, when the ground is still moist and the plants largely free of disease.  I've bought a few bedding plants to pot up for some colour later in the summer.  Our worst weed is creeping buttercup and I've been pulling that out in handfuls as it tries to sneakily bloom from within other clumps of plants, luckily its yellow flowers are pretty obvious since I don't have much yellow in the garden otherwise.

The extra Jubilee bank holiday is coming up this next week, so DH gets a short work week which he is quite pleased about.  DS is going to come for a visit next weekend, I wonder what he is going to think of his room?  I think in his mind, it was still exactly how he left it, so I had to remind him that he needs to bring whatever he requires in the way of computers and clothing for his visit.  We are still adjusting to being empty nesters, it was only last week when we were grocery shopping that I realised with a heady rush that I could buy whatever kind of apples we wanted!  It didn't have to be Braeburns or Granny Smiths (the only kinds DS would eat)- it could be anything at all!!!!  Freedom  :)